Despite all that is known about HIV prevention, there continues to be some 40,000 new HIV infections per year, with steady or increasing incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM) (CDC, 2003c, 2005b). Although African-Americans make up only approximately 13% of the US population, one half of the estimated new numbers of HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the United States occur within this population (CDC, 2006). While African-Americans are clearly disproportionately affected by HIV, interventions which effectively target this group have not been well represented or evaluated in the literature. This proposal is for a randomized, controlled HIV-prevention intervention trial testing the effectiveness of a comprehensive, group-based behavioral intervention in decreasing sexual risk and HIV-infection among African American MSM. The proposed intervention, which will be developed and implemented through collaboration between Howard Brown Health Center and South Side Help Center, will address empirically established variables that increase vulnerability to sexual risk among African-American MSM, including: community stigma, "self- homophobia" and its effects on sexual identity; socioeconomic status, and distinctive patterns of substance abuse. The intervention treatment group will be contrasted with a "standard of care" comparison group who will receive HIV testing and counseling (for negatives) or risk reduction counseling services (for positives) at baseline and follow-up time-points. The primary outcomes will be evidence of intervention feasibility, indexed by recruitment and retention of high risk African-American MSM, and intervention efficacy, assessed via self- reported risk behavior over 12 months of follow up. We propose 2 levels of data collection: 1) Audio Computer-Assisted Self Interviews (ACASI) at baseline and each follow-up, and 2) HIV/STI sero-status testing at baseline and 12 month follow-ups. The key outcomes will be both quantitatively and qualitatively assessed through self-reports of sexual risk in ACASI interviews using standard measures of risk and psychological mediators, plus transcriptions of the workshop sessions. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]